Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Anti-Americanism in the world

I just read this Reuters article discussing how widespread and common Anti-Americanism is in the world.

Talking points included
  • President Bush is seen as arrogant and "unilateral"
  • Tourism from abroad is down
  • It's bad for business
I noted the article said that the Anti-Americanism "trend has accelerated sharply under President George W. Bush rose sharply under President Bush" -- as if it's all because he's a big cowboy meanie and had nothing to do with the intense, world-wide propaganda war that is being fueled by Jihadis and Socialists, taking advantage of the unfortunate side effects of seriously taking on the Islamists.

It is apparently all about how other people view us, as if popularity is the measure by which one should justify policy. Nowhere is any defense, quoted second-hand or otherwise of US Policy, but they sure got specific with this part:
Not even the most optimistic delegates to the Washington meeting, billed as the first of its kind, thought citizen diplomacy could soon reverse a trend that has accelerated sharply under President George W. Bush, many of whose foreign policy decisions have been criticized as unilateralist and arrogant.

emphasis - mine

Propaganda is well served by repetition of the core ideas, and the press never misses an opportunity to express anti-American talking points in the language that has been chosen for the campaign.

I imagine that most of this Citizen Outreach has more to do with apologizing for America and swearing that they didn't vote for Bush rather than articulating defenses for it, despite the fact that there are defenses a-plenty.

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